Players raring to go at Whitehaven

Haven kicked off their preparations for the 2016 season a fortnight ago and Coyle is pleased to see that all his players are putting their best feet forward in a bid for first team places.

“The atmosphere at the club has been brilliant,” Coyle said. “The lads are all buying into what we are trying to do.

“It’s really exciting and on the first day, it was like going back to school. Everyone was raring to go and rip into what we had planned for them.

“We did some SPARQ testing on day one and it found us a proper baseline.

“There is the danger sometimes in pre-season of people coasting a bit, but this wasn’t the case.

“Everyone bought in and we had players giving everything they had.”

Coyle explained the importance of having all of his squad understanding the reasoning behind the tough start to pre-season.

“If somebody isn’t buying into what we are trying to achieve it undermines what me and Will [Peter Williams, assistant coach] are trying to achieve,” Coyle continued.

“If just one person in the group has the wrong attitude it can spread.”

With new arrivals, including Grant Gore, Liam Carberry and Elliott Miller, taking part in their first training sessions at the club, the Haven boss was pleased to see their progress in the opening weeks of pre-season.

Carberry is looking to make his return to competitive rugby league in 2016 after making just four appearances last season.

The hooker made two appearances for his former club Widnes Vikings before linking up with Haven on dual-registration, but was injured in March’s fixture against London Broncos.

“We’ve got some great new players coming into the squad and we have to get them involved.

“It’s great seeing Carbs involved after his time off.

“It’s probably been a lonely place for him having to train away from the Widnes squad and do his rehab.

“And the lads like Grant and Richie Beaumont have already have a taste of what it’s like training with us.”